A place where the elders, ministers, and ministry leaders of the Southeastern Church of Christ can share how God is working in their lives as they strive to serve the church that He has placed in their care.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Hindsight is… (A Little
Meditation on Human Memory for the Week of Easter)

Hindsight is always in HD, isn’t it? Memory filters out so much of the material—
whether fact or opinion—which seemed important, so right at the time, but later
is revealed to be utterly unimportant or simply wrong. It’s as if our collective memory washes all of
that out. All that’s left is amazing
clarity.

And
once that forgetting has taken place, it’s easy to look back at the now
sanitized version of the past and think it was not possible that it could have
happened any other way.

We look back on World War II as a “good war.” It’s completely clear to us (from our present
vantage point) that it was always a foregone conclusion that the United States
would enter the war. It’s clear to us
that it was a foregone conclusion that once we were in, victory was assured. Shed of any pesky details, it’s an easy
picture to remember and “know.” It must
have happened that way because that’s how we remember it.

This week, I heard an interview with the author of a new book about the
political climate in the United States between 1939 and 1941.

Those are not
arbitrary dates: Germany invades Poland
and the war is underway in September, 1939.Then the United States enters the war after the events of December, 1941:
the attack on Pearl Harbor, our
declaration of war on Japan in response, and then Germany’s declaration of war
on the US in response to that.

Between 1939 and 1941, there was a huge internal debate in the United
States between those who felt we should enter the war (the “Interventionists”)
and those who felt we should stay out (the “Isolationists”). The rhetorical and political battles involved
such luminaries as President Roosevelt (sympathetic with the interventionist
view) and Charles Lindbergh (who was an unofficial spokesman for the
isolationists). Both sides of the war in
Europe had active espionage operations in this country trying to influence
public opinion. Isolationist leaders on
campuses included two future presidents and a future Supreme Court justice. Interventionist leaders included titans of
industry and Hollywood figures.

One of the
isolationists’ reasoned arguments was that in the wake of the Great Depression
trying to fight a war would cause the nation’s economy to take another dive, if
not collapse totally, leaving us unable to defend ourselves should we need to.

Another of the
isolationist arguments (based on the experiences of trench warfare in the First
World War) was that millions upon millions of American soldiers would be needed
to effectively wage the war and that millions would die…and it wasn’t even
“our” war.

In point of fact,
neither of those arguments turned out to be “what actually happened.” The economy actually benefited from the war
production. The casualties,
reprehensible as any are, turned out to be far less than the “reasonable
estimates” of the isolationists.

Here’s the point: It’s very easy for us to sit on this side of
that history and see that the isolationists’ arguments were wrong and that
World War II is the dictionary definition of “the good war.” Because we’ve scrubbed the history clean. In our collective memory, the history of World
War II goes straight from “Germany invades Poland” to “U.S. enters war and
victory is assured.”

But absolutely no
one could know that in 1939-1941.No
one.

Is there a point lurking somewhere in here, Greg? (I know; wordy.)

Here goes: As I listened to the
interview, I went further back in history in my mind, to a spring weekend
almost two thousand years ago when a young artisan-turned-preacher died on a
Roman cross.

Some thought,
“That’s the end of that…and good riddance!”

Some thought,
“That’s the end of that…what’ll I do now?”

Some thought,
“That’s the end of that…and it might as well be the end of the world, because
this is the worst thing that could ever happen!”

Some thought,
“That’s the end of that…and how can I ever trust God again? If God won’t save this guy…”

Some thought, as
they laid him in a tomb, “That’s the end of that…”

I wonder if we have scrubbed and sanctified our shared memory of that
weekend to the point that there’s no Saturday left. We jump straight from “died on the cross” to
“raised from the dead.”

But maybe what makes
Sunday so unbelievably sweet and joyous is
that Saturday. A Saturday in which there
is no assured outcome, no sure next step, no future to anticipate. A Saturday filled with numbness and fear and
disorientation. A Saturday seemingly
emptied of any hope.

But now, in
retrospect (and only in retrospect!),
it’s all so clear.

My hunch is that most of us live a great deal of our lives in
“Saturday.” “Saturday” is a hard time to
live, a hard time to trust God. But in all
of our “Saturdays,” those times of fear and hopelessness, we can remember that “Sunday”
is coming, with its proof that God is faithful and that all of our “Fridays”
and “Saturdays” are redeemed and vindicated. In fact, “Sunday” with God turns out to be so
amazing that “Saturday” with all its doubt and disorientation may be utterly
forgotten.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Last weekend, the elders and ministers gathered together to
work on another project that we have derived from our congregational vision
statement.

“Growing hearts toward God—

Where
people are…

devoted
to God in love.

trained
by Christ for life.

and
led by the Spirit to serve.”

And the project we were working on?EVANGELISM.

We discussed our views, some of the congregational comments
from our Vision class, and how to develop better tools and efforts toward that
end.During the discussion, two comments
in particular struck a chord with me, and I’d like to share the thoughts that I’m
contemplating as a result.As I am
thinking these things through, I really think the first comment will be greatly
addressed as we get a better handle on the second one.

Here goes:

COMMENT ONE:Evangelism has a negative connotation in our society, so we should call
it something else; something less offensive.

Really, this shouldn’t surprise any of us.Persecution has tended to follow Christians
across the centuries and Christ himself predicted it. More than likely a good deal of it comes
because Christians “share their faith” with those who don’t have a faith, or
those whose faith is contrary to Christianity.I have three primary responses:

A.Evangelism is NOT optional to Christianity.It is our mission given to us by our
Lord.We are called to “pay it forward”
when it comes to the Grace we have received, and we do that by sharing it with
others that are still “like sheep without a shepherd” in our lost world.“Go into all the world,” Jesus said in
Matthew 28, “and make disciples of all nations.”(See Matthew 28:18-20)In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul said: “We are
therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through
us.”(See 2 Corinthians 5:18-20)

B.Even in times when the message is not
appreciated, Christians continue to share.

On that day a great persecution
broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were
scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.But Saul began to destroy the church.Going from house to house, he dragged off
both men and women and put them in prison.Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.Acts 8:1-4

As Christians, like it or not, evangelism is something we
are supposed to do.As a result, we may
be disliked, insulted, and punished, but we must never scream “RETREAT!” and
flee from our mission.We can call it
something else if we want.“Community
Outreach.”“Sharing your faith.”Whatever makes the effort not get in the way
of the end result is fine with me, but we need to be about the business of
making disciples.

C.Our message needs to have integrity.No hidden agendas.No mixed messages.If our message comes from the heart and holds
to the gospel, then folks will normally at least respect our effort.For instance, we don’t feed the poor so that
we can bring them to church.We feed
them because they need food, then we share the message because they need
hope.We don’t want to be guilty of
hiding the message behind a façade of service.Whatever we do needs to be real.

And that leads me to…

COMMENT TWO:We need
to understand what The Message really is.

I’d like to open my response here with what it is NOT.First, it is not our doctrine.And, it isn’t our church affiliation, or even
church attendance.It isn’t our view of
worship or our understanding of the purpose and point of baptism.The message is not to "avoid Hell!”

All of those things are important.They really are.But, they are not at the core of the message.

So, what is our message to this dark world?

The Gospel = The Good News.What is the “Good News” of our message?

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.For God did not send his Son into the world
to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.John 3:16-17

·Despite all of our personal failures and
weaknesses, God loves us!

·He has taken the first step…a drastic step…and before
we have shown any interest in Him…to provide for us hope in an eternal life!

·God will not count our faults against us, but
wants to be reconciled with us…brought together with us…bonded to us.He wants a relationship with YOU, ME, and
that guy that lives next to you.You
know.The guy who sleeps around, gets
drunk, shoots off his mouth, and makes fun of your dog.Yep.Even him. And, you have the job of telling him.

The creator of the universe…the
King of all kings…the Master among the stars…

He loves us...you, me, and that guy.

And, He is going all out to
convince us to love Him back!

He is just looking for us to trust
Him…have faith in Him…in that love.

The response of faith in the love
of God will lead us to all of those other important details.We can share those in our further
studies.However, it is the genuine
trust (faith) in that gift of the love of God that will motivate us (and those
folks we share the good news with) to take action.That’s how God’s Grace has its effect on
us.It moves us to respond.

So, in my view, the message in a
nutshell is:

God loves us and wants us with
Him.Jesus died to make that happen.The Holy Spirit awaits our response.We can find love, relationship, and an
eternal hope in our trusting response to that loving sacrifice.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

What Would the Police Find Out about Us?

If you were killed and the police investigated your murder,
what would they find out about you? Would
they think you were a good person devoted to God, or not?

First they’d interview the people that knew you well - the
people closest to you. They’d ask, “Did he
have any enemies?” Who would want to
kill you? Have you wronged someone and
you haven’t made it right? Mathew
5:22-25 says:

But I tell you that anyone
who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister,
‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court.And
anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

“Therefore, if you are
offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister
has something against you, leave your gift
there in front of the altar.First go
and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

“Settle matters quickly with
your adversary who is taking you to court.Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may
hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and
you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly
I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

What does God think of the relationships in your life? If someone hates you it may indicate that you
did something wrong that needs fixing. Don’t wait. Go fix it. Treat people right so they don’t hate you.

Next the police would say, “What
vices did she have? Was he dealing
drugs? Did she steal money?Did he cheat on his wife?” Why do they investigate these things? Because if you play with fire you are likely
to get burned. Proverbs 6 says:

Can a man scoop fire into
his lap

without his clothes being
burned?

Can a man walk on hot coals

without his feet being
scorched?

So is he who sleeps with
another man’s wife;

no one who touches her will
go unpunished.

People do not despise a
thief if he steals

to satisfy his hunger when
he is starving.

Yet if he is caught, he must
pay sevenfold,

though it costs him all the
wealth of his house.

But a man who commits
adultery has no sense;

whoever does so destroys
himself.

Blows and disgrace are his
lot,

and his shame will never be
wiped away.

For jealousy arouses a
husband’s fury,

and he will show no mercy
when he takes revenge.

He will not accept any
compensation;

he will refuse a bribe,
however great it is.

What does God see when he looks at what you do when no one
is looking? If you are doing something
really sinful, it’s going to catch up to you. Stop it now. Repent!

Next the police would say, “Let’s
check out her financials affairs?” They’d
look at your bank statements and check book. They’d look at your credit card statements. They’d look at what you spent your money on? Did you spend money or receive money doing
righteous things or sinful things? What
would they find? Matthew 6 says:

“Do not store up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where
thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and
steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the
body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But
if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then
the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

“No one can serve two
masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted
to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

What does God see when he looks at how you manage your
money? If you spend it on earthly
foolish things, and you don’t give to build up treasures in heaven, then you
may need to take a Dave Ramsey course (go to www.daveramsey.com).

Next the police would say, “Let’s check out his calendar.” They’d want to know who you spent your time
with and what you did all day. Did you
visit someone in the hospital, or did you go someplace nasty?

Proverbs 2 says:

Surely her house leads down
to death

and her paths to the spirits
of the dead.

None who go to her return

or attain the paths of life.

Thus you will walk in the
ways of the good

and keep to the paths of the
righteous.

Where does God see you going and what does He see you doing?
Okay, you get the point. The police investigating your life is sort of
like God’s all seeing eyes. God knows
all and sees all. Our behaviors indicate
the pattern of our heart, what we love, what we value, and ultimately what we
worship. Do we love the Lord our God
with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind?

Thursday, March 7, 2013

So many people have had much to say
about grace, what it is, what it does and so on.I don’t have anything new to add and I sure can’t
say it better than what has been said in God’s word.The great thing about the truths in the Bible
is that they are always relevant, and the Bible can shine light into ones heart
whenever one is ready to receive its truth. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 reminds
his readers that it is the gospel, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus
that has the power to save sinners. Paul
in verse 10 gets very personal, “I do not even deserve to be called an Apostle
because I persecuted the Church of God. But By the grace of God I am what I am, and
his grace to me was not without effect.”

I am what I am! What does that mean to you? If you have been washed in the blood as Paul
was, and like I was, then it has to strike you to the core of your being. I am what I am by God’s grace and only God’s
grace. It does not matter what I was,
because I am in Jesus. You see we are
all the same; Paul’s experience with grace is the same as ours. We do not deserve it, and how can we possibly
live up to it? God made a way for us
because of his infinite goodness and mercy. Through our faith and obedience in his Son
Jesus we have been reconciled! “Reconcile”
means “to make friends again.” Jesus
said in Jn. 15: “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants because a
servant does not know his masters business; instead I have called you friends."

God’s Friend! It is what God’s grace has done in me. What a blessing it is to be included in God’s
family. How has this grace affected you?
God’s presence in our lives has to affect
us in powerful ways that should be transforming our lives into the image of our
Lord. Jesus paid a dear price for this
grace that God freely bestows on us. We
must take care as to how we live our lives, and out of love and reverence for our
friend and God proclaim that “this GRACE was not without effect.”